Fillmore Central starts strong
to win opener in boys basketball

Fillmore Central got a quick start to the season, scoring the first 11 points before going on to win the opener in boys basketball Friday at Southland 73-65.

The Falcons started the game on an 11-0 run and built the lead to as high 19 points before Southland cut the lead to eight, 32-24, at the half. Southland kept pace with the Falcons in the second half as the two teams each scored 41 points.

"The second half was back and forth and we got the ball to Nick Powell who led the team in scoring with 20 points," said Falcons coach Aaron Mensink. "Our main two ball-handlers, Logan Masters and Jordan Miller, combined to have zero turnovers in the game along with scoring 12 and 11 points each."

The team had 22 defensive rebounds and 29 total. Powell led the team with nine rebounds while Collin Bennett added six. Carter Rindels and Nick Mensink each had three.

Masters led the team in assists with five and steals with four. Others scoring points for the Falcons were Rindels with 10, Bennett and Quentin Case with six each, Mensink with four, Ascher Ostrom with three and Bryce Whitehill with one.

The team made 26 of 54 shots from the field and 16 of 29 from the free throw line.

Southland made just 19 of 55 shots from the field and 23 of 33 from the line. The Rebels were led by Lukas Anderson, who scored 26 points, three of them three-pointers and nine from the line. Alex Ruechel added 18 points.

"Overall it was a big win to start the season," said Mensink. "It was good to see how the team responded against another team and gave the coaching staff information on what we need to improve on and what we did well."

The Falcons faced Caledonia Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the home opener, but results weren't available for this edition. Next up is Kingsland at home on Tuesday, Dec. 3.